Tide Directions

Been doing some night anchoring and burleying around the 3 mile of late ... usually tide and wind direction have been reasonably correlated making for productive results.

BUT on Saturday evening we were met with a SW wind and an opposing Northerly tide ... which made it a little more challenging as the burley trail was going upwind of the boat. Still managed some good fish, but was very awkward and less productive than normal.

My understanding is there are too many variables to forecast tide direction in advance (beyond just knowing whether its an ingoing or outgoing tide). Does anyone have a secret formula to deal with this? :)

ranmar850

Happens to me all the time, at Kalbarri and further north. You just have to go with it. You can affect the way you hang a bit by having the motor up or down--down means the tide drags more, up means the wind might affect more. . I ve gone so far as to hang the sea anchor over the stern, so the tide holds the boat straight. if your target fish are near the bottom, and you are using lightly weighted baits, it can help to cast up tide and upcurrent, and have it come back towards you. It will sink a lot quicker if th line is slack.

You can also bridle your anchor so the boat is tied to the anchor rope at two points, holding it more across wind. You can only do this, of course, if the wind is not too strong.